Martin Freeman: The face of our dear Watson was splashed over billboards around the world as Bilbo Baggins in the already record-breaking first film of the 'Hobbit' series. Few actors deserve mainstream exposure as much. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

Martin Freeman: The face of our dear Watson was splashed over billboards around the world as Bilbo Baggins in the already record-breaking first film of the 'Hobbit' series. Few actors deserve mainstream exposure as much. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

It seems that Martin Freeman has signed up to play Shakespeare’s villainous Richard III in a new production at Trafalgar Studios, later this year.

The play, directed by Jamie Lloyd, forms part of this year’s Trafalgar Transformed season, which last year played host to James McAvoy as Macbeth, and John Simm and Simon Russell Beale in a staging of Harold Pinter’sThe Hothouse.

You can rest assured, the moment we find out that Una Stubbs is playing Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, you’ll be the first to know…